What do you think about the lack of practical knowledge about how things work. I responded to a question about a alternator problem by asking if the question was serious. It was. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ng-freely.html

 

Lack of practical knowledge keeps me employed.

 

Its probably a youngin',16 to 18 years old. It's the kids first vehicle, and it cost 500 bucks.
The kid has no tools. Never needed to fix anything, cause the kid didn't own anything.
I was the same way. I started tinkering with cars when I was 13 or 14, cause I had older friends that let me help them fix their rides.
I had no idea what a firing order was, which wrench to use, or what an alternator, coil, or windshield wiper motor looked like.

I'm just glad the kid had the sense to come here; you must admit, this is the best place to get advice on Ford Trucks.

 

There seems to be a lack of practical knowledge vis-a-vis 'rep' points in that thread.....

 

i thought that was ironic

 

A kid has to start somewhere and was asking a honest question. Maybe it did seem a little on the very basic side, but at least he was willing to ask and make sure that there was something that he wasn't overlooking. I'd much rather have someone ask and learn myself. I'm quite sure that I've asked at least as dumb a question before.

 

Shore, while I can understand the frustration from seeing what seems like a very stupid quistion being asked, all of us started off with zero knowledge on cars.

Some of us grew up around vehicles, and with a father figure or older friends who were into them and we learned from them, and so by the time we got the point of being on this site, we had some knowledge built up.

I say some of us, because while I was growing up, my grandfather was already too sick to impart his knowledge to me even though I showed interest, my uncle's never showed the interest to learn from him, so they could not teach me, and my own dad takes his vehicles to the shop to get the oil changed and tires rotated every time. I think in the last 10 years he has changed the oil in his truck a grand total of MAYBE 6 times. (He does however do all the regular maint. on his outboard on his boat). And he has never done any tune up work on any of his vehicles in those 10 years.

Before, he would do some work, and I did learn a few things from him, namely on my first truck, which was his old truck (a '92 ranger I bought off him with 115k on it in '00) he helped me change the starter and the heater core.

That is the limit of his car knowledge, and he has very little passion for vehicles any more (he used to....at least looking at the cars he used to own...nothing but thunderbirds and various 'almost' sports cars through his late 20s). So, when I got out of the house and really developed an interest in vehicles, I had to ask my knowledgable friends some really really stupid quistions on things. My roomate now is a mechanic, and on occassion I have to ask him stupid quistions, at least I feel stupid after I find out what the answer is....

This is how we learn, for people who are just learning, the best place to learn is the internet, so when you have no knowledge, you need to ask stupid quistions to learn the simple stuff, knowledge that me and you take for advantage now, but 10 years ago I didn't have a clue.

So, basically, give the guy a break, help him out, be nice, keep him interested in our hobbies, and that is one more person we can add to our number.

† -Jimmy Dean- †

 

Jimmy you will see that I apologized and I have promised to be more understanding in the future. I had the benefit of a school district that had a lot of shop classes. All of the trades were taught from woodworking to the full range of metal arts. Looking back it was the result of the schools ensuring a supply of workers for the aircraft industry in the area. The school district even started teaching computer programming in Jr. High in the late 60s. Fortran and punched tape.

 

oh I know Shore. That wasn't really only to you, but kinda a reminder to everyone that we all come from zero knowledge, some folks just have to come here to learn it is all.

 

Well, I can say that I have certainly seen a change in the average high school student over the 20+ years I have been teaching. They come to my shop classes with less and less basic knowledge (accurate measuring skills, the meaning of the words "square", "flush", "plumb" etc.).
More or less the same temperament over the years, just with less background knowledge. It takes instructional time to make up for that and other similar deficincies, so in the long run, we don't get as advanced as I used to be able to.

Growing up in the Pittsburgh area, my school had full range of shop classes. Heck, I had "Electricity Shop" in the 10th grade. I've never seen a class like that before or since until I started a basic electricity and wiring class in the high school where I work.

I think that the over-emphasis on standardized testing does not bode well for the practical arts.

 

i agree that folks are newbees at some time but there has got to be a comon sence thing there. if its got a pulley and a belt the pulley should turn!! so why would anyone just thro on a new belt without turning all the pulleys? granted that big one on the bottom would be hard to turn by hand but can be done. that OP is one of those id personaly wouldve skiped over to let some one else answer cuzz i thought it was a trick ? at first too

 

I myself tend to get excited when i meet someone new to this area, its like i want to explode with all that i know, cause i don't care if they ask stupid questions so long as they don't mind me going on and on about it and everything connected. the other day I spent almost an hour when a gentleman asked me if i knew anything about speakers and what would work in his land cruiser. we eventually ended up discussing 4 wheeling.

and jsut the same i have listened to many of old timers talk about babbit bearings and using brass from old beds for exhaust, complete with piano wire (I was proud when he asked me about tuning his new avenger on his t-bucket!). even learned and discussed alot of guitar and music info from same guy.

 

Shorebird....

I deferred posting here for a couple of days. But just remember, the stated conventional wisdom put out here on FTE---especially in the tech threads---is that 'there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-stupid-question'..........Although you were fairly tactful in the way you posted to that OP, the gist seemed to be 'what-are-you-some-kind-of-idiot-----GEESH!'........

That OPs follow-up post to you kinda made his first question make sense.

I'm not sure what 'practical' education means in the sense that it's taught in some conventional way (auto mechanics, shop, whatever), but I would guess that the major chunk of 'experts' here on FTE are either a) real mechanics, or b) guys that just get 'into' doing this stuff, and spent most of their lives with their head and hands stuck in an engine bay.

Be kind.

 

Pactical education and common sense two things that people are growing up without. My 12 year old daughter knows how to change the oil in a vehicle, the steps to take to change a flat. She can check the circuit breakers when the power goes out. She knows that if something is made to turn, swing, pull out, push in or ROTATE and it doesn't then that something is in someway malfunctioning and needs to be fixed.

 

fixed.